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[1993-06-16-WCW-Clash of the Champions XXIII] Ric Flair & Arn Anderson vs Hollywood Blonds (2/3 falls)


Loss

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  • 2 months later...

I always loved the "Austin misses the vegamatic -> Austin does the camera thing -> Arn does a surprise DDT" sequence. But the rest of this match just doesn't look as good now as it did at the time. I've commented many times that this was the first time I ever thought Flair looked old. From watching this, he doesn't appear to have much ring rust and isn't wrestling "old", so I don't think that's the issue. I think part of it is that Austin and Pillman were so obviously eager to have a good match and because they were still on the rise and had an act that was working, Flair and Arn seemed a little boring in contrast because they were at a stage where they could coast a little.

 

They're helped by working in Norfolk, a very pro-Horsemen crowd, so the crowd ate everything up. Also, Austin seems genuinely excited to be in the ring with Flair for what was likely the first time and is working very hard.

 

It's also interesting that this match is why the Blonds were broken up. The show did a low rating and Austin and Pillman were blamed for it, with the line being that if they were over as a team, the show would have drawn a good rating. Dusty's conclusion was that Steve Austin had star potential, but needed to be in singles and that he was being wasted teaming with Pillman, so he broke up the team to push Austin. That's later gotten spun as some political thing because main eventers felt threatened when that really wasn't the case. But WCW's television cycle was so stupid at this point that it took them a few months before they were at a point to break them up because they had so many months of TV in the can.

 

Interesting match to watch now for many reasons, even though it's not very good.

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  • 1 year later...

The Austin does the camera into Arn's DDT is an amazingly quick and crisp sequence. Awesome job by both. I wouldn't say Flair looked old either, as a matter of fact I thought he was a lot of fun here. But he was without a doubt the lesser worker of the three, as Austin and Pillman were on fire, and Arn not too far behind.

 

That being said, I thought the booking sucked and the writing was on the wall, as the Blonds couldn't get a fall on Arn. I mean come on, it's not like Arn doesn't do jobs, so why can't the world champ get one pinfall in a 2/3 ? Especially since the end result is a little dubious to me, the Blonds losing the fall via DQ should make Flair & Arn the champs. Anywway, to me it showed that Ole and Dusty just weren't focused on the future on the company, and that Flair coming back wasn't good for guys like Austin/Pillman/Dustin who should have been the future. Flair was 44, and he already was nostalgia at this point, especially as a face.

I didn't know this Clash spunned the break up of the Blonds. It's a shame, they were so much fun together and built momentum, personnality and star power together. Poor Pillman, the guy worked his ass off for years, finally gets a break as a heel and still doesn't get his dues. The whole evolution of his character is understandable, he worked so hard to get so little every time around, no wonder the guy finally became a bit cuckoo.

 

On a funny notes, gotta love the absolute lack of reaction for Roma's save at the end. It's a super pro-Horsemen crowd, and Roma gets crickets when he makes his run-in.

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  • 1 year later...

Big pop for when Flair tags in and finally returns to WCW ring action. I’m immediately stumped why we never get a singles Flair versus Austin feud as just feel like they would have been great natural opponents for each other during Flair’s face run. Has Flair ever beat anyone with a flying forearm??!! So the good guys win the first fall. I hate that finish with Flair/Anderson winning two straight falls but because of the DQ on second fall the titles don’t change. Really needed to give Austin/Pillman at least one fall with them being the hot tag team.

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  • 1 month later...

Flair's big return and they can't even be bothered to play Also Sprach Zarathustra for him--not an auspicious start. The crowd is nuts for Flair and his big debut beating the shit out of Austin and fish-hooking him is really well-done. There are some great moments of viciousness here, and Arn's work as a one-legged FIP is pretty outstanding, but the match as a whole is a lot less than the sum of its parts. This is another 2/3 fall Clash main event that felt the ravages of a show running long, as I distinctly remember my attention being split between the match and the clock when I first saw this, as there were about 5 minutes of TV time left and we were still in the second fall. Windham solves that problem with a cheap run-in DQ, followed by a tepid Roma save. The Flair/Windham fight on the floor is a pretty cool way to end the program, but this was an underwhelming match a whole.

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  • 1 year later...

I do wish the Blondes would have gotten a fall and it is ludicrous that they were blamed for this. However, the match itself is really good of what we see and I see none of Flair being old. In fact, I thought all four had definite highlights. Flair doing his strut, immediate eye rake, flying forearm! and being a c razed loon was great. The Blondes were also excellent stooging and bumping their ass off. Arn sold his leg like you knew he could. I really think the Blondes pinning Arn and winning the third fall with some miscommunication among Horseman could have made this a low end MOTYC for me. The crowd was hot and very pro Horseman which made Flair's return feel like a big deal. Poor Roma was just not going to work and I think the appropriate move by this point would have been a flip between him and someone else. ***1/2

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  • 11 months later...
  • 5 months later...

First fall: ​I liked Larry paraphrasing Flair's classic line "To be the man, you gotta beat the man" during the intro. He can get away with stuff like that without sounding cheesy or overproduced, and he's one of the few who can.

 

Tony's grasp of history eludes him here. as he misstates that Flair won his first NWA World title in 1979. It may have been an innocent slip of the brain, but given wrestling's penchant for rewriting and cleansing its own history at the drop of a hat, I tend to doubt it.

 

I'm not sure where I read it, but someone said in one of the Blonds threads on the board that Austin and Pillman were wrestling like a '70s tag team by this point in their partnership, and I thought they might have meant the Andersons. It turns out that they meant the Yukon Lumberjacks, who are one of the worst kick-and-punch teams ever to win a championship. One Austin suplex was about all I saw that could be called wrestling; the rest was heel schtick, which is fine for most heel teams but terrible for the Blonds, who proved that they were better than that sort of thing long ago, or so I thought. The towel spot is overused, and definitely wasn't needed here; why on earth does "the tag team of the nineties" need that sort of stuff to beat two old guys whom they've repeatedly dismissed as old geezers who aren't fit to lace their (the Blonds') boots? It just doesn't make sense, especially when they've had some great bouts lately, like the one we saw earlier in the set against Scorp and Buff.

 

The fans wanted Flair, and they sure got him. There was no hint of ring rust whatsoever, and he really seemed happy to be back in Horseman country. Arn was great as a face not-quite-in-peril, as he managed to stay in the match despite getting the worst of most of his exchanges with Austin and Pillman,

 

I thought they'd acknowledge at least in passing that Arn and Austin used to be stablemates, but they didn't, even though it might have added a bit more emotion to the proceedings.

 

Tony and Jesse seemed a bit out of sorts here. Jesse's age cracks about Flair and Arn seemed to legitimately tick Tony off, and he was audibly disgusted with Jesse's comparison of Arn to a bottle of Ripple. These two have to be them most inconsistent major announcing team in quite a while; when they're on the same page they can be terrific, but when they're not, they may be the most unlistenable announcer pairing in quite some time. I guess it all depends on who gets out of bed on which side before a given card.

 

Flair beats Pillman with a flying forearm to put his team up 1-0.

 

​Second fall: ​There were more chops thrown in the first few minutes of this fall than in most of the other matches on this disc put together.

 

Flair wasn't a bad FIP, but the Blonds were more in their element trying to destroy Arn's knee. Tony reminded the audience that a knee injury was what had kept Arn out of the ring in the early part of the year, and Jesse really added to the sense of drama by constantly pointing out that the Blonds were keeping him from tagging Flair, which might end up costing Arn both the match and his career.

 

Tony wanted no part whatsoever of Jesse's assertion that Flair and Arn had to be wishing that they'd signed for a standard one-fall bout, which would have meant a title change already. I'm not sure why, because Jesse was absolutely right. I think Tony had just had enough of Jesse for one night and wanted to call the match in his own way since it was Flair's big return and he was a favorite of Tony's (which is understandable, given how long they'd worked together in JCP).

 

The DQ was expected, because Flair wasn't going to need the World tag belts if he was challenging Barry for the NWA title. People tend to forget that Barry was in a sense an original member of the Blonds, since he and Pillman formed a very good team before he (Barry) left to pursue a singles career and Austin replaced him. Roma making the save in street clothes didn't exactly float my boat; he should have had an earlier match so we could see how he'd wrestle as a Horseman.

 

I loved how intense the postmatch brawl between Flair and Windham was; in some ways it was the most intense action all night. Barry's promo before that wasn't exactly Shakespeare, but it set up the feud very nicely.

 

With the full beard, his height and his intensity on promos, Barry's really becoming the closest thing WCW has to a monster heel outside of Vader. Too bad he'll only be at his peak for another month or so before he hurts his knee.

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  • 1 year later...

WCW World Tag Team Champions Hollywood Blonds vs Ric Flair & Arn Anderson - WCW Clash of the Champions XXIII

 

A famous match because of the participants, Flair's WCW return match, how over the Blonds were and the Flair for the Old segment, however it is also famous for underwhelming. I watched this a looooooooooong time ago. Lets revisit it.

 

First Fall: Flair is over! I mean he is over. He is wicked fun in the first fall. Working the apron like a madman. It is electric when he gets tagged in. Arn timed that tag so well. Arn/Pillman had a great opening sequence. Pillman is such a great little shit and he did a great job bumping for Arn. The Norfolk crowd started chanting We Want Flair and Arn let them have it. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Nature Boy in the House! It was chops and punches, but the energy and zing was great to watch. I loved how he kept grabbing Austin's mouth and nose and fishhooking him. Real dirty. Chop to Pillman on apron for good measure. The Terrible Towel ends up around Arn's throat. Arn snaps Pillman off the rope, but Austin attacks. Good heat segment with Arn fighting back a lot and providing energy to the heat segment. The Austin misses the rope straddle lands on his feet->camera taunt->Arn DDTs him was so seamless & beautiful. Arn tags in Flair, but gets clipped by Pillman. Flair is on fire. He is taking on both men and just kicking ass. Arn trips up Austin from the outside and Flair crossbodys Pillman for the three count and the first fall. Loved the first fall, wicked fun & energetic. Horsemen up 1-0.

 

Second Fall: I LOVE Flair vs Pillman! I can never get enough of these two exchanging leather. WOOOOOOOOOO! I loved Flair Flip, runs the apron, SMOKES Pillman and then Austin takes a hard back elbow. Flair ends up taking a huge bump onto concrete. Really strong heat segment on Flair. Suplex on the floor and then throat first on the railing. I really enjoyed Flair fighting back but falling over before he can make the tag. Flair was phenomenal in this. Perfect balance of selling and coming back. Arn gets in and Austin is like all Hell No! Pillman clips the knee. I thought the knee work over Arn was great by the Blonds. Really great textbook stuff. Arn collapsing while running the ropes is always a favorite of mine. Just great work. The hot tag to Flair is insane. Flair JUMPS Austin before he gets through the ropes. He is just chopping everything that moves. The crowd erupts for the Figure-4, but here comes Windham to trigger the DQ. Paul Roma saves his Horsemen. Windham is cutting a damn good heel promo when Flair JUMPS HIM OUT OF NOWHERE! I love babyface Ric Flair.

 

I kept waiting for this match to fall apart or disappoint but it never did. Austin/Pillman rocked it as heels: tons of cheating, stooging, and two great heat segments. Flair & Arn ruled here, good offense and energy. Flair was a madman you could tell he was pumped to be back down in South! I agree with everybody the booking keeps this from being a classic. They should have picked up a fall on Arn. Ultimately the match feels more incomplete than bad or disappointing. I had a lot of fun watching this. ***3/4

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  • GSR changed the title to [1993-06-16-WCW-Clash of the Champions XXIII] Ric Flair & Arn Anderson vs Hollywood Blonds (2/3 falls)
  • 2 years later...

Isn’t this something? WCW, if they weren’t totally incompetent, could’ve looked back in their histroy at this for being a historically important match. A generational passing between the older guard to the next generation. How they didn’t build the next five years around Austin and Pilman, I do not know (Actually, I do. Thanks, Hogan). But alas this is still a really great match to have in your archive. 

This is Ric Flair’s first match back in WCW thanks to his contract with WWF stopping him from wrestling for the first few months. And the match is booked to accommodate Flair and Arn. The Blondes are excellent as chickenshit heels that get the snot kicked out of them so it works really well. The two straight falls is a bit too much and just a poor booking choice to go with though. As mentioned before, the Blondes are great in their role. Not only do they bump and selling superbly for the Horsemen, they do a fantastic job in control, cutting Flair off from Anderson with their great teamwork and individual skills. Austin had some great schtick. During one sequence in the match, Anderson moved out of the way of an Austin move in the ropes but Austin rode the momentum, landed on his feet and did the Hollywood Blondes “rolling” taunt. It led nicely into Anderson hitting a DDT but I thought that was a standout Austin moment even if it didn’t work out for him in the match. Anderson’s performance was excellent. His selling was outstanding and showcased why he’s touted as a great wrestler. Pilman’s clip of the leg just before the 2nd fall is really brushed off in the moment for a Flair hot tag but Anderson still sells the leg and threads it along into the 2nd fall and the rest of the match. Flair takes advantage of this being a Pro-Horsemen crowd and goes nuts. He is filled with fire and energy. Flair is visibly excited to be back in WCW and it’s infectious. I thought this was a great match, just incomplete with an odd finish and somewhat poor booking throughout the match. ****1/4
 

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